Teenage boy critically injured in shooting at Excelsior Playground

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A teenage boy was critically injured in a shooting at the Excelsior Playground on Friday, police Officer Albie Esparza said Monday.

The 17-year-old victim was walking with a group of friends in the playground at Russia Avenue and Madrid Street about 8:35 p.m. when a man, aged 18 to 25, approached and offered to sell the kids drugs, Esparza said. The kids refused and the suspect pulled out a firearm and demanded the kids' property.

The gun-wielding crook took one of the victims' cellphone and then began shooting, Esparza said. Only the 17-year-old boy was hit.

He sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the abdomen and was taken to the hospital with injuries considered to be life threatening.

The suspect, along with another man aged 18 to 25, fled the playground on foot to a red minivan and fled the scene.